Thanks to her frank disclosures in a recent interview, we know that the
Speaker's wife was an enthusiastic drinker - but is it really such a big
deal, asks Gill Hornby.

Reality television has made many vital contributions to culture and thought in this country, but perhaps the most important is bringing in to the mainstream the concept of The Journey. The participants all have one. And when they're booted out, or victorious, they just love to talk about it. The presenter always says "Oooh, you've had an incredible journey", and the contestant always says "Oooh, I've had such an amazing journey", and then a little box comes up in the corner and we all enjoy the journey again, but edited right down.

It would be apposite for Tess or Davina to pop up in Mr Speaker's house this weekend and do the same: "Oooh, Sally and John, you've had such a journey". And Mr Speaker and Mrs Bercow would say "Oooh, it's been an incredible journey". And the little box could come up and we could all watch the highlights of the busy lives that have brought this unusual couple to their current position.

We already knew that he was once on the Right and is now in the middle, and that she was once on the Right and is now on the Left. Thanks to her full and frank disclosures in a recent interview, we also know that Sally Bercow was once an enthusiastic drinker, who would regularly down two bottles of wine in a night and end up either asleep at the end of the Tube line, or perhaps having a one-night stand. She was a self-confessed ladette, with "no stop button": an "argumentative, stroppy drunk". And there has been an enrichment of our knowledge of the Speaker's early life, too. In 1986, he wrote "A Guide to Understanding Women", which is illuminating for all: it included advice on how to pick up "drunk girls, virgins and refined girls" and wisdom such as "women will settle for anything that breathes and has a credit card".

It's safe to say that, watching this journey, the good people of Buckingham might not be cheering along. The Speaker is not altogether popular back in his constituency, and Mrs Bercow has become rather outspoken about her intentions to stand for the Labour Party as soon as she is allowed.

But his colleagues at Westminster should think twice about leaping in. Nadine Dorries – obviously not one of the sisterhood – was particularly unhelpful in expressing her regret that the Speaker even "allowed" [sic] his wife to give the interview.

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Actually, I found it rather refreshing to have a wife in public life with avowedly different views from her man. And it was not unusual for a young woman in the Nineties to drink and smoke and sleep around. Just like it is not unusual for young bloods at Oxford to get into the Bullingdon Club and act like morons. That happens too, and is regrettable. But that hasn't held back anybody's career. Because it is not unusual to change. We all do it. Sally Bercow now has a family, a conscience and political ambitions. She's been, in fact, on quite a journey. Now leave her be.